Surface heating device

ABSTRACT

A surface heating device comprising a housing supported on a mobile vehicle and having a blower at one end thereof and panel means dividing the housing into an upper inlet duct and a lower outlet duct that opens downwardly onto a surface to be treated. A blower is supported at one end of the housing and a furnace is supported within the inlet duct so that air will move through, in and around the firebrick of the furnace and move first to the blower and then through the outlet duct and onto the surface.

United States Patent 1191 Schmidgall' 1 Jan. 9, 1973 SURFACE HEATING DEVICE 751 Inventor: William M. Schmidgall, Mapleton,

[73] Assignee: Technological Products, Inc Peoria,

Ill.

[22] Filed; Jan. 6, 1971 [21] Appl.No.: 104,411

[52] US. Cl. ..126/271.2 A -[51 Int. Cl. ..E0lh 5/10 [58] Field of Search..l26/27l.2 R, 271.2 A, 271.2 c,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 743,020 11/1903 Nesmith 126/2712 A 1,062,655 5/1913 MacLeod ..l26/271.2 A

' 3,442,262 5/1969 Porterfield 'et al ..l26/27l.2 A

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 263,576 3/1929 Italy ..126/27l.3

Primary Examiner-Charles J. Myhre Attorney-William A. Murray [5 7] ABSTRACT A surface heating device comprising a housing supported on a mobile vehicle and having a blower at one end thereof and panel means dividing the housing into an upper inlet duct and a lower outlet duct that opens downwardly onto a surface to be treated. A blower is supported at one end of the housing and'a furnace is supported within the inlet duct so that air will move through, in and around the firebrick of the furnace and move first to the blower and then through the outlet duct and onto the surface.

9 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTED JAN 9 I873 I INVENTOR. 68 WILLIAM M. SCHMIDGALL FIG. 3

. SURFACE HEATING DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It has heretofore been known to provide vehicles with some type of heating devices therein which are capable of applying heat onto a surface. In some instances, the surface-applying mechanism is heated rolls or plates that contact the surface. In some instances, the application of heat is by air heated in the device and then blown onto the surface. I

When heat is applied through rollers or heated plates, there is a quite limited use for the device since the rollers or plates can become caked with the materitrical outlet, thereby limiting the area in which it may 25 be used.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION With the above in mind, it is the primary object of the present invention 'to provide 'a mobile heating 30 device composed of a housing and having a furnace therein with firebrick or a ceramic-type liner and a burner within the liner that uses a propane gas for lighting and heating the liner. Air is drawn over,

through, and around the liner and furnace by means of 35 a blower and the heated air is then directed downwardly onto a surface to be heated. The propane burner is, of course, a relatively simple mechanism and requires no electrical system for operation. The burner ensures a relatively smooth movement of air into the 40 liner and the liner ensures a relatively constant source of heat.

It is a further object of thepresent invention to utilize on the intake end of the housing, a damper which will control the amount of air fed into the housing and ad- 45 jacentthe furnace. Since the propane is apetroleumtype fuel, there is required a degree of oxygen in order to have complete combustion. Therefore, by controlling the amount of air moving into the furnace, an

operator is able to control the amount of combustion and its resulting heat moving into the furnace.

Also provided on the outlet of the housing is a second manual adjustment for adjusting the intensity of the air moving through the outlet. By having a relatively small outlet, the heated air will be directed at a rela- 55 tively high intensity onto a small portion of the surface. By enlarging the outlet, theheated air is spread overa larger area although it will move with less intensity. Different surfaces and the material on the surface to be heated will require different types and velocities of heat 9 and consequently thisadjustment offers such.

. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1' is a front side perspective view of the entire 65 surface heating device. FIG. 2 is a vertical fore-and-aft extending sectional view taken through the heating device.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 3--3 of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings, a tractor 10 is provided for supporting the surface heating device 11 and has an operator's station defined by a tractor seat 12 and a steering mechanism 13. The tractor 10 has a main power source or engine 14 supported on a chassis 15 having front steerable wheels 16 and rear traction wheels 17. The heat-applying device 11 is composed of a main box-shaped housing having an overhead wall 20, front and rear upright walls 21, 22, opposite upright side walls 23, 24 and a floor panel or wall 25. Each wall is composed of inner and outer metallic panels 26, 27 separated by an insulating material 28. The inner wall is lined with an asbestos material 29 for purposes of fire prevention. The entire housing is supported on a forwardly projecting frame structure having fore-and-aft extending horizontal beams 30 and upright beams 31. The upright beams are disposed on opposite sides of the forward end of the tractor, with each having upper and lower brackets 32, 33 respectively. The lower brackets 33 are pivotally mounted on the forward end of the chassis 15 and the upper brackets 32 are connected to extensible and retractable hydrualic cylinders 34 to extend upwardly from the chassis 15 to the brackets 32. Thus, the cylinders 34 may raise and lower the forward end of the housing.

A horizontal panel 35 is positioned substantially midway between the upper overhead panel 20 and the floor panel 25. The midpanel 35 extends between and is connected to side walls 23, 24 and divides the housing structure into an upper air intake duct leading to the rear portion of the housing and a lowerdischarge duct leading forwardly from the rear portion to the front end of the housing. Positioned at the rear end of the housing is a fan or blower 40. Referring now to FIG. 3, the fan has six blades 41 that extend between opposite circular plates 42, 43 and are fixed thereto. The plates lie adjacent the respective leftand right-hand walls 23, 24. A center plate 44 is also provided to rigidify the fan structure. All the plates 42-44 are held together by a central tubing 45 having opposite ends extending outwardly beyond the end plates 42, 43. The tube 45 is connected at opposite ends with short stub shafts 46, 47 projecting through their respective walls 23, 24. The stub shafts 46, 47 project into the ends of the tube 45 and are fixed thereto by means of bolts 48, 49, 50. The shafts 46, 47 are mounted and held into position by self-aligning bearings, not shown, that are mounted on the respective side walls 23, 24 by suitable bearing housing 50, 51. On the extreme right end of the stub shaft 46 is a pulley 52 thatis driven by a belt 53 which also extendsv over a drive pulley 54 mounted on the tractor and drive by its power source in a conventional manner.

Extending across the forward upper portion of the housing is a furnace device 60. The furnace device rests on the midpanel 35 and in the air intake portion or duct section of the housing. Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 4, the furnace is composed of an outer box-shaped-type housing 61 that has an upper and lower parallel and laterally extending panels 61, 62 respectively interjoined at their front and rear edges by slightly inclined upright panels 63, 64. The panels 61-64 extend completely across the housing and are connected to the side walls 23, 24. The front panel has an upper edge that terminates below the upper panel 61 to provide a slot in the housing. The upper panel 61 ispivoted at 58 for purposes of adjusting the height of the slot by an adjusting bolt 59. The rear panel 64 terminates substantially midway to the upper panel 61 to provide a relatively large horizontal slot. The oven or furnace 60 is lined on the bottom and leftand right-hand sides and also at its front and rear walls by firebricks 65 that may be ceramic or other material. The leftand right-hand side and the rear side of the firebrick walls extend upwardly from a floor of firebrick and to a substantial equal level. The front wall of firebrick extends substantially higher than the remaining walls. A rearwardly projecting wall portion extends horizontally from the upper edge of the front wall. The oven or furnace is mounted inside of the housing by means of ceramic or other type of tubes 67 that project from and are rigid with opposite ends of the firebrick wall. The tubes 67 are held or fixed to the respective walls 23, 24 by collars 68 that extend inwardly from the outer surfaces of the respective walls 23, with each collar 68 having an annular flange laying against the respective walls 23, 24 and bolted thereto as at 69. A block, not shown, is inserted in the collar 68 on the left-hand wall so as to prevent escape of heat or hot gases. The right-hand wall has a specially arranged orifice block 70, with an orifice extending therethrough through which a pipe or tuzbe 71 projects and is connected to a propane burner 7 Positioned on the forward end of the housing is an air spout 75 composed of an air intake that leads to the upper air intake duct and an air discharge portion that leads from the lower discharge duct. The spout 75 has vertical flanges bolted at 76 to the front wall 21. The spout has vertical end walls for closing the ends of the spouts and front, center and rear walls 77, 78, 79. The center laterally extending panel 35 of the main housing extends forwardly and is connected to the upper edge of the center panel 78. The front panel has an arcuate upper portion extending over the center panel 78. Thus, air may be entered between the panels 77, 78 and over the forwardmost portion of the panel 35 and into the upper portion of the housing. Also, as may be seen clearly from viewing FIG. 2, the rear panel 79 terminates at the floor 25 and thus air leaving through the under or lower conduit may pass onto the ground through the duct structure for and between the panels 78, 79. A damper 80 is provided in the air intake opening between the panel 77 and the upper edge of the panel 78. The damper is used to determine the amount of air desired for combustion as well as proper movement of air through the entire heating unit. An arcuateshaped opening, not shown, covered by an arcuateshaped plate 81 is fixed to a lever 83 for manually adjusting the damper 80. Also provided on the lower end of the discharge duct formed by the panels 78, 79 is a second spreader-type baffle 84 that is adjusted by a set screw 85 so as to adjust the direction of air moving out of the discharge duct.

Thev mechanism operates in the following manner. Air is introduced into the upper air intake duct following ignition of the burner 72. Air passes upwardly and through the slot formed by the upper panel 61 and the upper edge of the front panel 63 and into the furnace chamber. The firebrick liner of the furnace will emit considerable heat as well as the burner itself. The shape of the firebrick liner directs the air rearwardly and the air is drawn through the aforementioned slot across the upper end of the furnace and outwardly through the slot formed by the upper edge of the front panel 63 and the upper panel 61 to the blower blades 41. The air is then recirculated forwardly by the blades through the lower outlet duct beneath the panel 35 and outwardly to the discharge portion of the spout 75. The damper serves an important purpose sinceit detennines the amount of air that will be fed into the fan and across the furnace. Since combustion of the propane gas requires considerable oxygen, the shutting off of the flow of 0xygen to the tank or furnace will reduce the overall heat emitted from the furnace. Also, the damper 84 directs the heated air into a small direct line of intense heat or over a widespread area with less intense heat. This of course depends upon the results desired. The entire heat emitting unit 11 may be raised and lowered so that the discharge system may be close or spaced from the surface to be heated by raising and lowering the hydraulic cylinders 15.

It should here be recognized that the present construction is shown for purposes of illustration. If more heated air is required, it is clearly apparent that either a larger furnace may be used or furnaces may be used in series with respect to air moving over, through and around them. Also, it clearly becomes apparent from viewing the drawings that the location of front and rear as defined in the specification is primarily for purposes of illustration and not meant in any way to limit the exact location of the'various parts of the invention to that described.

I claim:

1. A surface treating device comprising: a traction vehicle; a housing supported on the vehicle to move therewith and having an air inlet opening and a downwardly directed discharge opening; means for adjusting the intensity of discharge through said discharge opening; a blower with the housing; panel means within the housing dividing the housing into an air inlet portion leading from said inlet opening to said blower and an air discharge portion leading from the. blower to the discharge opening; a furnace within the housing comprising a compartment extending across one of said portions; a porous fire wall liner within the compartment defining a combustion area; and a petroleum burner within the fire wall liner.

2. The surface-treating device as set forth in claim 1 in which air'is fed to said furnace through said inlet opening and further characterized by damper means on the housing adjacent the inlet opening for adjusting the quantity of air moving through said furnace.

3. Thesurface-treating device as set forth in claim 1 in which said housing has opposite fore-and-aft extending sides extending between front and rear ends with said inlet opening and discharge opening at said front end, said blower is at the rear endand said furnace is disposed in said inlet portion and extendstransversely across and is detachably connected to the respective sides.

4. The surface-treating device as set forth in claim 1 in which said furnace compartment includes a transverse support and said liner is carried on the support and has a floor, end walls, from and rear transverse upright walls with the front wall being higher than the rear wall, and a rearwardly projecting wall extending rearwardly from the upper end of said front wall and terminating short of said rear wall.

5. The surface-treating device as set forth in claim 1 in which the compartment in which the liner is carried has an adjustable portion for adjusting the quantity of air moving into the combustion area.

6. The surface-treating device as set forth in claim 1 in which the liner is composed of a ceramic porous material extending across the compartment and the burner is at one end of the liner and directs flame into the combustion area and toward the opposite end of the liner.

7. The surface-treating device as set forth in claim 1 in which the porous wall liner is firebrick and has a floor, opposite end'walls, an overhead wall, and upright side walls extending between the end walls, with one of said side walls having an upper edge defining with an edge of said'overhead'wall-an areaof discharge of heat from said combustion area.

8. An implement for applying heat to a horizontal minating in an air discharge outlet directed downwardly and closely adjacent the surface; a blower within the blower housing portion; a furnace within the housing structure extending across at least one of the ducts including a poramous liner forming a combustion chamber and a petroleum burner within the chamber for heating said liner whereby air moving through the ducts will be heated by said furnace prior to leaving the housing structure.

9. The structure as set forth in claim 8 in which the intake and discharge ducts have a common horizontal wall therebetween, and the blower is on one end of the ducts and the air inlet and discharge outlet are on the opposite ends of the respective ducts. 

1. A surface treating device comprising: a traction vehicle; a housing supported on the vehicle to move therewith and having an air inlet opening and a downwardly directed discharge opening; means for adjusting the intensity of discharge through said discharge opening; a blower with the housing; panel means within the housing dividing the housing into an air inlet portion leading from said inlet opening to said blower and an air discharge portion leading from the blower to the discharge opening; a furnace within the housing comprising a compartment extending across one of said portions; a porous fire wall liner within the compartment defining a combustion area; and a petroleum burner within the fire wall liner.
 2. The surface-treating device as set forth in claim 1 in which air is fed to said furnace through said inlet opening and further characterized by damper means on the housing adjacent the inlet opening for adjusting the quantity of air moving through said furnace.
 3. The surface-treating device as set forth in claim 1 in which said housing has opposite fore-and-aft extending sides extending between front and rear ends with said inlet opening and discharge opening at said front end, said blower is at the rear end and said furnace is disposed in said inlet portion and extends transversely across and is detachably connected to the respective sides.
 4. The surface-treating device as set forth in claim 1 in which said furnace compartment includes a transverse support and said liner is carried on the support and has a floor, end walls, front and rear transverse upright walls with the front wall being higher than the rear wall, and a rearwardly projecting wall extending rearwardly from the upper end of said front wall and terminating short of said rear wall.
 5. The surface-treating device as set forth in claim 1 in which the compartment in which the liner is carried has an adjustable portion for adjusting the quantity of air moving into the combustion area.
 6. The surface-treating device as set forth in claim 1 in which the liner is composed of a ceramic porous material extending across the compartment and the burner is at one end of the liner and directs flame into the combustion area and toward the opposite end of the liner.
 7. The surface-treating device as set forth in claim 1 in which the porous wall liner is firebrick and has a floor, opposite end walls, an overhead wall, and upright side walls extending between the end walls, with one of said side walls having an upper edge defining with an edge of said overhead wall an area of discharge of heat from said combustion area.
 8. An implement for applying heat to a horizontal surface comprising: a main mobile vehicle adapted to travel over the ground; a housing structure supported on the vehicle including a blower housing portion, an air intake duct extending fore-and-aft from the blower housing portion to an air intake at its forward end, an air discharge duct beneath the intake duct extending forwardly from the blower housing portion and terminating in an air discharge outlet directed downWardly and closely adjacent the surface; a blower within the blower housing portion; a furnace within the housing structure extending across at least one of the ducts including a poramous liner forming a combustion chamber and a petroleum burner within the chamber for heating said liner whereby air moving through the ducts will be heated by said furnace prior to leaving the housing structure.
 9. The structure as set forth in claim 8 in which the intake and discharge ducts have a common horizontal wall therebetween, and the blower is on one end of the ducts and the air inlet and discharge outlet are on the opposite ends of the respective ducts. 